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Two cabs fighting for a fare nearly caused another tragedy yesterday when one of the hacks jumped the curb and plowed into scaffolding just 12 blocks south of where a British tourist lost a leg Tuesday in another road-rage incident.

The taxis were racing up Sixth Avenue near 37th Street at around 1:30 a.m. when one cut the other off, police sources said.

Driver Subal Das is believed to have cut in front of fellow cabby Jacob Owusu when he spotted a fare, the sources said.

The two cars collided, and Das’ cab hopped the curb and careened into construction scaffolding, which collapsed.

“Thankfully, no one was on the street at that hour, or it could have been a lot worse,” a police source said.

The accident came just three days after a cab jumped the curb at Sixth Avenue and 49th Street and plowed into tourist Sian Green, 23, severing her left foot and mangling her right leg.

That cab driver, Mohammed Himon, 24, yesterday had his driver’s license suspended after pleading guilty to a suspension summons.

The summons was related to points Himon had accumulated from a series of moving violations, and not Tuesday’s crash, which police say is still under investigation.Read more →

Dr. Mehmet Oz and a quick-thinking plumber raced to help a British tourist who lost her leg when a taxi jumped the curb outside Rockefeller Center Tuesday afternoon.

The 23-year-old tourist was having a hot dog with a friend by a fountain near a midtown corner after 11 a.m. when the cab lost control and ran over the curb. She was pinned against the taxi, which had slammed into the wall surrounding the fountain in front of 1251 Avenue of the Americas. She lost her right leg below the knee, officials said.

David Brandford became a cab driver in 1990, and immediately picked up a camera when he realized he now had a front-row seat to life in New York City. Since then, he’s not been able to stop taking pictures and capturing the city he loves.

Most recently, New York.com gave Bradford his own New York Moment, offering us a small glimpse into the life of the successful photographer cabbie.

In truth, Bradford has been many things over the course of his life. In chronological order, he’s gone from dancer and trombone player, to artist, to art director, to freelance illustrator, to cabbie, and finally photographer.

They were billed as a game-changing way to hail taxis in New York City, upsetting the urban democracy of the outstretched arm and geographic savvy, and replacing it with a smartphone app.

But according to data from the city’s pilot program for taxi-hailing smartphone apps, the revolution has yet to arrive.

Over four weeks in June, the first month of the program, trips arranged by smartphones accounted for less than one-quarter of 1 percent of all yellow taxi rides. Of the roughly 117,000 requests made using the apps, only 17 percent were “successful,” the city said — meaning a driver and rider eventually found each other using the program.

In other cases, a driver or passenger canceled (presumably because a willing partner was found the old-fashioned way), no driver was available or all drivers rejected a pickup request.

Opponents of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Taxi of Tomorrow project filed suit to block the initiative Wednesday, with just months before the first of the new Nissan‘s are to begin arriving on New York City streets.

The Greater New York Taxi Association and Evgeny “Gene” Freidman, two perennial combatants of Mr. Bloomberg and his taxi plan, filed suit in state court in Manhattan, charging that the plan to force virtually all yellow taxi medallion owners to purchase a single vehicle oversteps the mayor’s authority under the law.

It is only the latest court battle between the association and Mr. Freidman, a medallion owner, and the administration over the Taxi of Tomorrow. Under that program, Mr. Bloomberg and Taxi and Limousine Commission Chairman David Yassky are seeking to have a single, custom-designed taxi vehicle, a Nissan called the NV-200, become the de facto fleet vehicle for the city.

The complainants have won some earlier rounds, including a ruling earlier this summer that found that the TLC’s proposed rules for the Taxi of Tomorrow violated a city law requiring that the TLC authorize at least one hybrid vehicle for use as a taxi at any time.

After that setback, the TLC altered the proposed rules to permit certain, larger hybrid vehicles, but voted to approve the rules, and pushed forward with the taxi project. The first NV-200s are due on the streets in October, the TLC says.

Sleazy strip-club ads on the tops of yellow cabs may not be a part of the TLC’s “future,” sources told The Post.

The Taxi & Limousine Commission next month will likely decide against rooftop advertising on the so-called “Taxi of Tomorrow” — the new Nissan vehicle that will replace almost all the current cabs by 2018.

Sources tell The Post that the agency is leaning toward nixing the ads, since the NV200 model has a panoramic glass roof that shows off the Big Apple to it passengers.

A billboard ad would cover up these views — and the glass roof was the most popular feature of the new cab when the TLC surveyed riders.

The sedans in black, silver, and navy waited along the curb for a signal: a look, a slight nod, an impatient rap on the window.

With each one, a passenger climbed inside one of the cars waiting below an elevated subway station in the Bronx, and the car drove away. Though these street pickups by livery cabs are illegal and can carry hefty fines for the drivers, they happen so often and in so many corners of the city that they are a familiar street ritual.

But it is a tradition that may soon be upended.

In a major reshaping of New York City’s for-hire transportation industry, the city this summer is rolling out a new fleet of green taxis to expand legal street-hail service beyond Manhattan.

Elected officials and many livery company owners and drivers say it will not only ensure service for poor and minority neighborhoods where yellow taxis are rarely seen, but will also benefit livery drivers who, by converting to green taxis, need no longer look in the rearview mirror every time they make a street pickup.

But in some lines of livery cars, the very drivers the expansion aims to help expressed anger and worry. The drivers said that they eked out a meager living as it was, in neighborhoods with spotty demand and few big tippers, and that converting to a green taxi would cost them thousands of dollars they do not have and subject them to more rules.

“I don’t want it,” Pablo Camilo, 57 and a father of three, said as he waited by his gray Toyota Camry in the Bronx. “I want it to be like it is. I can’t spend money I have to spend on my family.”

A photographer’s worst nightmare happened to YouTube filmmaker Casey Neistat recently. After taking a taxi after a long 18-hour work day and flight, Neistat accidentally forgot all of his luggage — and $13,238.86 worth of camera gear — in the back of a New York City taxi cab. Among the equipment lost was a Canon 5D Mark III kit ($4300), a 24-70mm lens ($1600), and about $550 worth of memory cards — equipment necessary for Neistat to make a living.

The next day, Neistat got a call from the police department informing him that the taxi driver had turned in the gear. Surprised by the honesty, Neistat went to thank the driver in person and rewarded him with a massive tip.

David Pollack (“Taxi Dave”), executive director for the Committee for Taxi Safety and host of the Taxi Insider Show on AM 970 The Answer, today announced that his guest for this Sunday, June 16 at 10:00 a.m. is Taxi & Limousine Commissioner David Yassky.

Tune in to the Taxi Insider Showevery Sunday morning from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.on AM 970 The Answer (WNYM).

The Taxi Insider Show is a program designed from the yellow taxi drivers’ point of view. The show discusses local transportation issues affecting and associated with commuters, pedestrians, and all drivers, especially taxi drivers. Guests have included former Governor David Paterson, many local and state elected officials, and the CEO’s of transportation related companies. Most of this year’s mayoral candidates have been interviewed by “Taxi Dave” on Taxi Insider.

Located in Long Island City, the Committee for Taxi Safety is the largest licensed leasing association in New York City. Association members handle the leasing operations of New York City taxicab medallions. Recently, the Committee won a favorable decision and judgment by Justice Peter H. Moulton, finding that the Taxi of Tomorrow rules violate the Administrative Code of the city of New York and are therefore null, void, and unenforceable.

New York City’s Taxi of Tomorrow vision is about to be realized in just a few months. Later this fall, the all-new and completely redesigned taxis are due on the city’s streets.

This comes just two years after global car maker Nissan won a bid to redesign and supply the New York City fleet of cabs. Since then the company has been singularly focused on perfecting the vehicle for passengers, drivers, and owners.

Recently the final official milestone meetings for key stakeholders took place in Manhattan. It was a chance for the Taxi & Limousine Commission, drivers and inspectors to react to the Taxi of Tomorrow prototype before production starts.Read more →

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